A Pictorial Attemp: Re-glueing the fretboard to the neck

[musicelectronix]

From this thread: HELP! Really bad neck warp

Good info:

Originally Posted by Georynn

Sure, I'll take a crack at it...

I've had a similar problem with a neck someone gave me.

First order of business is the fret board. from the pictures it looks like the maple of the neck has moved, but the fretboard is staying pretty true. if you felt comfortable doing it perhaps i would completely remove it, and re attach it after straightening the neck. i would use a butcher knife and some heat... look here and see if this doesn't help...

For the neck straightening, there are a few ways to approach it.
1) reshape
try this tutorial... http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/warped.htm

2) Heat Bend
To do this you 'd need to remove the finish, keep the wood damp, then heat the wood while clamping the neck to something that would straighten or reverse the bow in the neck (without the truss rod installed, BTW)...

My Process:
Build a caul that will hold the flat part of the neck up against a stable flat piece of workbench. you need something that will not bend when you apply tension by clamping the neck to it.
I personally had a workbench that fit the bill, you may not...
I took two pieces of 1/8th inch maple scrap, and placed them at either end of the neck, and clamped the neck to the work bench with the "shims" on either end, so there was a space in between the scraps. I then took a heating pad (set to high without the cover) and a large "C" clamp and took the caul i made(a cut piece of 4" PVC pipe just wide enough to "grasp" the neck and cut a piece of walnut flat on one side and the same shape as the outside radius of the pipe on the other) and used the c-clamp to gradually apply pressure to the center of the neck over about three or four days. every afternoon I'd slowly remove the pressure and see how much the wood had moved, and reapplied the pressure. on the fourth or fifth day (I don't remember), when I removed the clamps it stayed almost flat against the table (just a slight amount of back-bow).
Then I lightly sanded it flat and reinstalled the truss rod, and re-attached the fret board, worked for quite a few years...


3)Graphite rods...
This would make the fix permanent... but would also be the hardest to pull off...

Good luck, sounds like you got a bit of work ahead of you...

Originally Posted by 202dy

With all due respect to the OP and the other posters in this thread:

Work Flow

All construction and repair has a natural flow. In some industries they talk of the Critical Path Method. What this means is that there is certain work that must happen first before other work can take place. For example, in building construction the foundation must be installed before the floor decking which precedes the walls. While it's true that the roof can be built separately and placed with a crane, it is not attached to the structure until the walls are in place.

In repair work, sometimes one task must be completed before an assessment can be made as to whether or not there is more work to do. It is only then that decisions can be made as to what must be done and what might be the best method to rectify the problem. This is one of those times.

The only thing that is certain about this repair is that the fingerboard must be reattached to the neck. The fingerboard is an integral part of the neck. The effect that the truss rod will have on the neck will be different when the fingerboard is glued down. So this is the first task that should be completed. Then assess the rest of the work. Beyond that, any other judgments are just gazing into a crystal ball.

Some tips on regluing the fingerboard:

1. There is glue residue in the gap between the fingerboard and the neck. In all probability, there is some on each surface. The residue must be removed if a permanent joint is to be achieved. Razor blade scrapers can be employed for most of the job. As you work back toward the area where the fingerboard and neck are still glued together there is not enough room for the scraper. A thin pallete knife can be heated and inserted in the crack. The glue will stick to the knife. This is repeated until the crack is clean. Some people will recommend using sandpaper. This is not a good idea. Unless you are very careful, it is very, very easy to round out the edges of both the fingerboard and the neck. The other problem is that the paper can tear and get stuck in the joint. If left in, it will cause a permanent hump (.010-.020") in the fingerboard.

2. Clamp the fingerboard below the crack so that you don't open the gap further while performing the work. This is very frustrating and can cause more damage.

3.. The factory used either polyvinyl resin (white, like Elmer's) or aliphatic resin (yellow, like Titebond) glue. Either will work well for this task. For this job, super glue is a disaster waiting to happen. You may find that you will need to reposition clamps and clean up squeeze out. When the super glue grabs, it's all over. If there is a gap between the board and the neck at F3, you get to undo the work and start over. Super glue squeeze out is a major pain to clean up because you can't use solvent for this job for fear of weakening the joint. So you'll have to grind the glue off and polish the neck. White glue has an open time of about seven minutes when fresh. Yellow glue, a little less, at five minutes. Both allow plenty of time to get the work done. Both are plenty strong enough to do the job. They both clean up with water and a rag.

4. Clamping cauls are a must. The caul is shaped to the radius of the fingerboard. 0r you can use multiple cauls on the center and edges of the fingerboard. This is the only way to insure even pressure across the surface. The danger is that the edge of the fingerboard could left at a raised height when the glue sets. Even a few thousandths could result in the need for fret work. N.B. Stew Mac radius blocks can be cut up to use as cauls for this job. If you do, it is a good idea to laminate a steel plate to the back of the caul to increase the strength and flexibility. It is very bad day when the glue is applied and the caul splits under pressure.

5. Do a dry run of the clamping procedure before applying the glue. Five minutes is plenty when you know the order of the work flow. If this is your first time to the party you'll be dancing a boogaloo at 220 bpm if anything unexpected happens. Practice first, glue later.

6. When clamping, do not put too much pressure on the clamps and cauls. This will cause too much glue to squeeze out. The result is a starved glue joint. That may have been the cause of the current repair.

7. Once this has set up over night, you can try adjusting the truss rod again and decide what to do next. It is likely that the truss rod will hold the neck at proper relief. If it doesn't, the neck can be clamped into a back bow and the truss rod nut tightened to hold the fingerboard into relief.

8. Leave the geometry alone. Do not try to pull anything one way or another before applying the glue. The fingerboard and the mating surface of the neck are flat, or at least should have been when it left the factory. More importantly, there is no way to check it without removing the fingerboard. There is no reason to remove the fingerboard to perform this repair. If there are other problems with the fingerboard or the frets they will be addressed after the assessment is made.

9. Yes, heat can be used. You should not be heating the neck to a temp that allows the glue to release. However, heat is a last resort. Always.

BEFORE SHOTS:

[musicelectronix]

As suggested by 202dy, there is only one appropriate way to do a repair or at least you shouldn't cut corners. Eventhough I was 99% sure that the neck had an inward bow, first I repaired the fretboard before doing something about it. So, here is a pictorial, which I am sure would help some of you guys.

Disclaimer: I am not a luthier, nor a qualified repair person. I am just handy with stuff like this and followed instructions that were posted here and some other internet sources. Do not attemp to do any of this unless you realize I can not be responsible for any damages and unless you are sure you have the neccessary skills, tools and patience.




Here you can see the damage very clearly. This is a before shot.


To clean the glue between seperated fretboard and neck, I heated this spatula that I got from Stewart-MacDonald. It is very flexible, but keeps its form nicely. Perfect for the job! As you can see, I just used basic household appliances



Glue sticks on the hot spatula. Be careful not to heat it too much like I did. I accidentally burned the neck a little on my first try Also pay extra attention no to widen the crack. It only takes 10 min.s if you are very careful and slow


As you can see, glue sticks nicely. Do not forget to clean it up before another round.




Rest of the stuff I used. Two clamps, a water-soluble stronger-than-wood carpenter's glue (you don't need anything stronger than that. You don't need superglue, ultraglue, hyperglue, OMGglue, etc. Got it? It needs to be water-soluble, because you will need to clean it up. There need to be enough time before it bonds, so you can work on it) and two band clamps (What violin makers use to glue the fretboard to the neck. You don't want to use regular clamps here, because it is very important you apply even presure throughout the fretboard radius. Otherwise you need to "match" the radius before clamping it. VERY IMPORTANT)



I put liberal amount of glue between two pieces and I forgot to take pictures while doing it. I basicly pour some on the spatula and work my way. I did seperate the pieces a little bit by thightening the truss rod. I am not sure if this was a good idea. In this picture, I used the band clamps AFTER taking any pressure from truss rod. One thing to mention, do not overtighten the bands or there won't be enough glue left inside to form a decent bond. I think the technical term is "starving the joint"


I also clamped the neck on a flat surface. I didn't bend the neck and didn't change its geometry. I just set it to a place where it is supposed to be. I left it like this overnight.



Oh, before leaving it overnight, I cleaned up some excess glue with the spatula. What a nice little tool!


Ok, I can call it a success! Too bad the picture demonstrate this was out of focus! But this one should be good enough.


I glued the nut and it seemed very strong. But my problems didn't end here. More on this later...